


Your Eyes Look Like Coming Home

by gloaming



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Bakery, Fluff, Harry is a baker who has a massive crush on Louis, Louis is a university student who likes to sniff things, M/M, One Shot, niall's literally mentioned twice, this is so dumb im sorry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-08
Updated: 2015-10-08
Packaged: 2018-04-25 10:31:40
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,067
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4956859
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gloaming/pseuds/gloaming
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Harry is a flustered baker who thinks Louis is the prettiest thing on earth. Louis just thinks the bakery smells nice.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Your Eyes Look Like Coming Home

The first time Louis walked into the bakery, Harry was kneading dough in the back room, music playing softly on the iPod dock he kept nestled in the corner. Nothing was more soothing than making fresh baked goods while listening to his favourite songs, and honestly, he hadn’t been expecting a customer at noon on a Tuesday.

When the bell above the door jingled, Harry jumped, feeling his bun flop slightly on his head, making it more askew than it was already. He hurriedly wiped his hands and rushed to the counter, and.

The absolute prettiest boy he had ever seen was standing in the centre of the room. His eyes were closed, chin raised slightly as was sniffing deeply. His lips were quirked in a small smile, offsetting his beautifully high cheekbones, and soft brown hair was held back behind a beanie. Harry waited for a while, but the boy appeared to be stuck in a reverie, sniffing the air intensely. Maybe it was the bread.

Harry coughed, “Can I help you?”

The boy jumped and snapped his eyes open. _Blue_. His cheeks went pink as he smiled sheepishly, “Sorry, this place just smells really good.”

Harry laughed, “I know, it’s why I wanted to work here. That and, well, the baking.”

“Speaking of, is it any good?” The boy said. His smile had turned coy, and Harry was _so_ down with that.

“Since I made practically everything in here, yeah. I’d say it’s pretty good.”

The boy’s eyebrows raised, “Oh? Mind giving me a taster then?”

“You’re gonna have to pay just like everyone else, I’m afraid. But I can recommend the most _darling, delicious_ cinnamon roll, just for you,” _Just_ like _you_ , Harry thought.

“Sounds good Bakery Boy.”

“Heeey, it’s Bakery _Man,_ ” Harry said as he ducked down behind the counter.

The boy laughed, which warmed Harry a little too much for someone he’d just met. “Just fetch my cinnamon roll, would you?”

“You know, I can deny service. And then you wouldn’t get your precious cinnamon roll.” His words contradicted his actions as he shoved the roll into a small brown paper bag and straightened.

Harry grinned as the boy gasped, “You would never, ‘m too good-looking to refuse.”

“Eh,” Harry said, giving a quick up and down, “You’re alright.”

Honestly, Harry was just glad he’d been able to blatantly check the boy out again. He was dressed in a plain white t-shirt, which scooped to reveal his collarbones, and black words inked on the top of his chest, _It Is What It Is_. Shapely legs were clad in black jeans, and he had shoes with little skulls all over them. Boring outfit aside (where were all the patterns? Buttons? Accessories?), the boy was hot. Very, very hot.

Harry bit his lip as the boy pretended to be affronted. He really needed to learn his name. “I am appalled, really. How dare you?”

“That’ll be 2.50,” Harry said with a roll of his eyes, unable to keep the smile off his face.

“Right, forgot you were making me pay for this _ridiculous_ service,” the boy searched through his pockets and handed the money to Harry.

Harry handed the boy the paper brown bag, and while Harry didn’t claim to be the best baker in the world, he was still a bit shocked when Louis’ face fell as he sniffed the roll.

“Is there something wrong?” Panic tinged Harry’s voice a little, if his cinnamon roll was shit then the boy wouldn’t come back because Harry had just been leading him on this whole time with promises of delicious baking and he would have ruined all chances at maybe flirting with him some more and oh _God_ , has he been a shit baker this entire time and no one told him?

But the boy glanced up and gave him a dazzling smile, “No, there isn’t, I just assumed it would smell a bit different. Thanks,” he glanced at the name tag tacked onto Harry’s apron, “Harry.”

“You too…” Harry trailed off as the boy walked towards the door.

“Louis,” Louis called over his shoulder as the bell over the door jingled again.

 

Louis came into the shop the same time next week. Harry was in the back room, again, because the bakery could always do with a fresh supply of baked goods. It was kind of his job.

He heard the bell and meandered out to the front, wiping his sticky hands on his apron after having just placed the muffins in the oven. When he walked out, he caught Louis standing in the middle of the room, just sniffing. Was this going to become a tradition?

“Louis, hey!” he chirped, excited to see him again after his week-long pining and ranting to Niall, who was the only one who ever listened to his romantic spiels. He loved Niall.

Louis jumped, his eyes flying open, “Christ, you nearly gave me a heart attack!”

“Oh shit, sorry, sorry!” Harry said frantically, “I was just surprised to see you, didn’t mean to give you a fright.”

“It’s okay, just give a bit of warning next time,” he laughed.

“Well,” Harry glanced around, “You did come into my shop, where I work…”

Louis shushed him. “I’m looking for a baked good.”

Harry was slightly amused when he said, “I’m sure I can help you with that. What are you looking for?”

“I need something that smells exactly like how the bakery smells.”

Harry paused. That was a first.

Louis sighed deeply, “I know it’s weird, but I figured the baker would probably be able to make the best decisions about these types of things.”

“Fair enough, but I’m not sure if I know-” He cut himself off as he watched Louis’ face screw up, clearly disappointed. He couldn’t reject him of his weird request like this, and besides, he could treat it like a challenge. The more he tries, the more Louis will visit. Perfect plan.

“Exactly where to start, since the bakery has a lot of different smells in it, but I’ll try anyway.” He finished his sentence, trying to quell the butterflies in his tummy when Louis beamed brightly at him.

“Thank you so much! You’re the first person to actually try and help. But your bakery smells the best.”

Harry accepted the compliment.

They chattered amicably as Harry scrounged through the biscuits and pastries they had on display, searching for the perfect one. Louis had classes at the Uni just nearby, and he had his longest break between classes for the day on Tuesdays, so he decided to come exploring. When he smelled this bakery however, he knew it was the one.

“Got a bit of a thing for smells, do you?”

“Ah yes, you’ve discovered my kink.”

Harry sniffed at a croissant, and then sniffed the air to check before replying, “Why is it always the cute ones?”

“Hey, are you trying to tell me that you don’t get devastatingly aroused the second you come in here?” Louis was grinning unabashedly down at him from where he was leaning over the counter, watching Harry search-and-sniff.

Harry placed a finger on his lips, “Don’t tell anyone what the glaze on the cinnamon rolls really is.”

He felt a bit warm as Louis cackled above him.

“What a horrifying mental image,” Louis glanced at his watch, and then did a double-take, “Shit, sorry Harry, I’ve gotta run, hope I didn’t waste too much of your time.”

“No, no, it’s fine, have fun in class!”

Louis blew him a kiss as he rushed through the door, bell jingling.

Harry sat down with crossed legs behind the counter. _Shit,_ _what am I gonna do for a week?_ He thought, only mildly aware of the smell of burning muffins.

 

The next few weeks rolled quickly as Harry spent most of his time waiting for the fateful Tuesdays. His situation with Louis was bordering on dangerous. He was just so _pretty_ , and funny, and smart, and kind, and Harry spent as long as he could between sniffing each baked good so that Louis would keep coming back. Not that Louis would stop coming at this point, as they got on like a house on fire, shamelessly flirting one second, and making bad bread puns the next.

Eventually Louis started coming at other times during the week. Sometimes it was the mornings, when he would look soft and sleepy as he nibbled at the donut he bought. Sometimes it was near Harry’s break, so they would go into the back room together and share a brownie, Harry’s heart rate picking up whenever their legs brushed. Sometimes he would come at the end of Harry’s shift after he had finished uni for the day and give Harry a lift home. They were proper _friends_ at this point, and Harry almost felt bad for how completely smitten he was.

But still, their quest continued for the perfect bakery food, and every time Louis came to see him, Harry would immediately start bringing out assorted muffins and cakes, as they sniffed over each one.

Louis was sat on the counter, picking at a chocolate muffin and talking about his day when Harry realised.

“So my professor is standing there just absolutely fuckin’ _fuming_ , he looked like he wanted to knock this kid out- what, what happened, what’s wrong?”

He was off the counter in a heartbeat, clearly concerned at why Harry’s face had dropped so suddenly, but it just wasn’t _fair_.

“Babe, what’s happened? Was it my story? I knew you didn’t like violence, you should have stopped me.”

“No, it’s not that.” Harry shook his head, frowning at the case full of food that just wasn’t good enough, apparently.

“Then what happened?” Louis tugged at Harry’s arm so that he would look at him.

Harry sighed deeply, “It’s just. We’ve been searching this whole time for your perfect food and I really thought we could find it but I just realised we’ve gone through every single thing in the bakery and none of them smell right and now you’re gonna go and find another bakery to hang around in because I couldn’t get you the right thing.”

Harry was certain he’d never talked that fast in his life. Louis looked shocked too.

That is, until he started laughing at him.

“Harry,” he giggled, “I’m not gonna stop being your friend just because you couldn’t find me a bloody treat. I mean, I’m a little disappointed, but that doesn’t mean I hate you for it. _Find another bakery_ , Jesus Christ.”

Harry raised his eyes from where they’d dropped to the floor. Louis looked so beautiful as he snickered behind his hand, blues eyes full of fondness as he watched Harry. His lips were curled up in a grin, and Harry had never wanted anybody more in his entire life. Louis wasn’t going to abandon him. Harry realised he wouldn’t have let him anyway.

“Yeah?” he asked, kind of embarrassed from his brief meltdown.

Louis rolled his eyes, “Of course, c’mere.”

He grabbed Harry’s shoulders and pulled him into a tight hug, Harry’s heart feeling like it would burst. He’d never noticed how much smaller Louis was than him, and he squeezed tighter as he felt the urge to protect him, hold him here forever. His skin was burning where Louis hid his face in the crook of his neck, and he squeezed his eyes shut, feeling overwhelmed.

He could hear Louis breathing in deeply before he pulled back and looked Harry straight in the eyes.

“You smell like the bakery.”

And then they were kissing, Louis’ lips soft against Harry’s, tasting like chocolate muffin and coffee as Harry pushed him against the counter. Louis tangled his fingers in Harry’s hair and pulled him closer, tongue running along Harry’s lips as their mouths opened and the kiss deepened. Harry had been imagining this moment for weeks, and now that he finally knew how Louis tasted, how he felt pressed up against him, he wasn’t sure if he could stop. He ran his hands along Louis’ waist and kissed his neck, sucking a love-bite as Louis moaned, high and breathy.

They kissed for what felt like forever, Louis encompassing all of Harry’s senses, until he finally pulled back and looked at Louis.

“Go out with me,” Harry said breathlessly.

“I thought you’d never ask.”

**Author's Note:**

> This was so dumb i'm sorry????  
> But anyway, I hope you liked this and that it wasn't too bad!  
> You can find me on tumblr: http://haznuts.tumblr.com/  
> Thanks for reading!


End file.
